The Legacy of Activision comes back for one
more haunting round...
Review by Victor1st and
Katherine "Barbarella" Venra
In the franchise once famously said
by PC Gamer in 1997 as "the most lucrative franchise for PC gaming in the world"
the PC games franchise for Star Trek has been through quite a few high's
(armada, bridge commander, elite force, SFC 2) and a few lows (dominion wars,
pinball, the cancellation of secret of Vulcan fury) over its more than a decade
worth of releases.
From the inception of the fledgling
PC franchise with the first major title by Interplay (25th Anniversary) up to
the lawsuit of 2003 between Activision and ViaCom the fan base has been on the
roller coaster ride for more than 10 years.
After the lawsuit of 2003 the fanbase
that used to be in the thousands of players started to dwindle down to the mere
hundreds. Over 3 years worth of no games ended however in 2005 with a
parting comment of the then head of Products & Development inside Viacom, Mr
Harry Lang as his final act in running the franchise announced the continuation
of the Star Trek gaming license outside of the MMO by introducing us to Bethesda
Softworks.
Bethesda, already an industry lead
had tallied up a lot of AAA games with the long running Elder Scrolls series and
the new "Oblivion" title was gaining a lot of good preview results in the early
stages of its press run. Many people, including the staff of this site was
more than happy to see the Star Trek gaming franchise in Bethesda's capable
hands, and we still are.
The first title announced was Star
Trek: Legacy, and this is what this review will be about. When officially
announced mid January of 2006 by the marketing bods over at Bethesda we found
out that the crew responsible for Star Trek: Armada 2 would be working on this
previously cancelled title from Activision. MadDoc software under the
leadership of Doc Davis would be getting this game made for the PC and the
XBOX360, the first time a cross platformer which included the PC as one of the
platforms was being made. It was intended to be much like the previously
cancelled game which was pencilled in as "Bridge Commander 2" by
Activision...then cancelled...and then pencilled in as "Star Trek: Admiral"
which MadDoc was already working on in 2002...and then that got cancelled,
really, ya have to love Activision.
We should have seen it coming back
then, but we didn't. Activision, even after leaving the franchise, would
come back with it's curse once more. From the spring of 2006 to the early to mid
fall of 2006 we seen more and more disturbing news about features which had
vanished, held back release dates and then the one thing which kept on appearing
(but which none of the staff clicked on) was mentioned in no less than 2
podcast's by this site. Both Mr Derek Chester (co-writer of the story
line) and Mr Eric Krasnauskas of MadDoc both said they liked the PC version with
the XBOX360 controller plugged in. The warnings were already their at the
start, no one in the community, not even us seen it, the game was basically a
port FROM the 360 TO the PC...
With both of us having played the PC
version it has become apparent that this game should NEVER have been
released on the PC. Even though MadDoc had been working on this rumoured
"Star Trek: Admiral" and the actual game code itself has aspects of the Armada 2
engine written all over it the game itself plays and feels like a next gen
console game even while playing it on the PC.
When Katherine got her hands on the
PC version from a friend she immediately installed it on her home PC. The
installer was a bit on the plain side, but then again there's been a few trek
games like that. However one of the telling features which MadDoc had once
again cut was the in-game CGI rendered movies which was rumoured to have been in
the game from the very early stages of development as Star Trek: Legacy but then
cut in favour of a cheap rip off of the Armada 2 in game movie setup. The
missing in game cut scene movies would also have a direct negative impact on the
fantastic storyline that D.C Fontana and Derek Chester had written, and it
wouldn't be the last time MadDoc had made grievous mistakes regarding the
removal of key features in order to get the game out.
When you dig into the "options" of
the game you immediately notice that all the standard features which any
respecting game developer would include for a PC game is missing. Little
to no control over the video settings, little to no control over the sound
settings and by far the biggest tell tale sign that this is infact a ported
XBOX360 game? NO USER CONFIGURABLE CONTROLS FOR THE PC VERSION!
Not only are you locked in with the
keyboard controls, you are immediately hampered with the non configurable system
which is why in the early podcasts both Eric and Derek said that the XBOX360
controller is a much better option.
The game itself plays just fine on
this PC although it is seen by a few people and now confirmed that the PC
version has infact dumbed down graphics compared to the XBOX360 version,
something which people like me with dual SLI 7800 cards do not appreciate.
Starting the game off in the campaign
you are immediately greeted by the welcoming voice of Scott Bakula as you play
through the enterprise era missions. However, as quick as the missions go
the enterprise era vanishes behind you. Yet another cut by MadDoc software
was the total amount of missions available in the game, almost one third of the
campaign missions were scrapped, further deadening the storyline of Legacy.
Moving into The Original Series and
then into The Next Generation the voice acting by William Shatner seems tired,
but he seems to liven up in the final mission in the TOS era. Voice acting
by Patrick Stewart is once more good however whats the deal with Avery Brooks
(Sisko)? Did MadDoc forget to WAKE HIM UP before he started reading
those lines out? As for the treatment of poor Kate Mulgrew (Janeway) you
only got to hear her once or twice. One of this games biggest selling
points was the whole "we got all 5 captains in this!" which was spammed all over
the place in the press release. MadDoc and Bethesda however didn't do
enough to capitalise on the fact this this will probably the first and last time
all 5 of those captains will appear in one game. Whether it is due to
MadDoc's cutting of the CGI video, or cutting of the base mission numbers we
will never know, but the voice acting was simply not enough, the interaction
between these 5 key characters and the voice over's they done should have went
deeper, much deeper, however, as we said before, you can thank MadDoc once again
for screwing up the amount of missions in the game and cutting it down.
Aside from the lack of compelling
voice overs from the 5 major stars the gameplay itself is...infuriating for the
PC player, but a whole lot more easier when you turn your PC into a console and
plug in an XBOX360 controller. MadDoc...if I wanted an XBOX360 I would
have BOUGHT ONE! The infuriatingly cumbersome controls (which are NOT
configurable) on the PC does more damage to this game than good and is yet
another reason which in our eyes this game should never have been released in
this condition to the PC market.
As for the actual game play...what
game play? It's another point and shoot "kill all these *insert race here*
ships and move on to the next mission" kind of affair. Star Trek: Bridge
Commander had a much more deeper and interesting mission structure and the
missions themselves seem rushed and made by someone who basically doesn't know
what he is doing. As for the very final mission, you can instantly tell
that the final mission was artificially made more harder than it should be by
the mission scripter, taking shortcuts like that is inexcusable and is a sign
that the scripter's for some particular missions were in way over their head.
The gameplay itself is fun for the
first few missions but you soon get tired of the same old point and click affair
and the cumbersome controls for the game with its false full 3D soon annoys you
to the stage of not wanting to play the game any longer. When the game was
released however even more mistakes were made apparent. The game had to be
patched immediately since multiplay didn't work correctly and even after Patch
1.1 there is still issues with it.
With all the negativity with this
game there is however some saving graces. As was mentioned before the game
itself is fun, and if you can actually manage to get into multiplay for a battle
thats where the fun really is. Much like Bridge Commander it takes tactics
to beat a human counterpart and Katherine has been spending a lot of time in the
multiplay side on the PC.
If anything the only hopes of this
game being continually played is to fix the inherent multiplay problems before
the playerbase vanishes as quick as it did with Dominion Wars.
As a stand alone title for any new
players to Star Trek, it is an above average offering and will keep most casual
players happy. However for someone like us at STG it is scarily looking
like an Activision published game with inherently bad bugs and key features that
were removed.
Star Trek: Legacy Score & Final Thoughts
71%
As an XBOX360 title it will be great, however this game should
never have been released on the PC in its current state which makes the game
look like a late beta build rather than a final build. Overall the
graphics do look nice after you are forced to do some tweaking with the actual
game files to get rid of MadDoc's dumbing down code, The game does shine
through as possibly one of the best graphically looking game's out of the box
for Star Trek for the past 10 years, but you have to alter the game files to get
it to really shine.
Ultimately though this is another game which will be played
once and then shelved, with useless multiplay connectivity for PC many PC gamers
in the trek franchise will be wishing Activision came back. Bethesda have
got to pull the stops out for their next PC Game offering to keep the playerbase
alive, they have shot themselves in the foot with this one, and as for MadDoc,
they should never have been allowed to develop this game.
-
Who are responsible for the game?
Star Trek: Legacy is being developed by
MadDoc Software
and published by
Bethesda Softworks
-
What are the minimum specs for the game on PC?
Windows XP (Home, Media Center or Pro Editions)
with Service Pack 2
DirectX Version 9.0c
Intel Pentium 4 (2.66ghz or higher)
or AMD Athlon XP 2800+ or higher
DX9 compatible AGP 8X or PCI Express video card,
128 MB VRAM, Pixel Shader 1.4
16-bit Direct Sound compatible sound card,
speakers or headphones required for audio
512 MB RAM
5 GB free space
LAN or Broadband connection (DSL or Cable Modem)
for Multiplayer
Windows compatible Keyboard & Mouse
-
What kind of experience does MadDoc and Bethesda
have in the gaming world?
MadDoc software already has a lot of experience in the world of Star Trek gaming
by already having developed Armada 2 and the staff of MadDoc also helped in the
development of Star Trek: Armada. Recently MadDoc as a company have
developed games such as Empire Earth II, Empire Earth, Jane's Attack Squadron
and Dungeon Siege: LOA.
Bethesda Softworks as a company has published/developed games like The Elder
Scrolls, Magic * Mayhem, IHRA, Morrowmind, Pirates of the Caribbean and Delta V.
-
When will this game be released?
Legacy will be released in December of 2006
-
Which genre will the game be?
As yet the info released is kind of speculative. It will be some form of
RTS however it will also be a ship battle sim similar to Star Trek: Bridge
Commander. More info will be available soon.
-
What is the story line of the game?
It starts off with a tie in to TNG, the Iconian episode known as "Contagion".
Before the events of that episode a Vulcan tries to harness the power of the
portal...enter The Borg. The Borg then assimilate the technology and the
story kicks off from there. From what has been seen the story will be
multi era, starting off in Archers time and continuing on to Picards time.
-
What's the info on multiplay?
As far as we know the game will support up to 8 people on multiplay on GameSpy
and the playable races are Federation, Klingon, Romulan and The Borg. Both
the XBOX Live and PC versions will have multiplay capability.
-
How many units will i be able to command?
A total of 4 comprising of one capital ship and 3 support ships.
-
What ships will be in the game?
Federation
Discovery
Minuteman
NX-01
Poseidon
Strider
Yorktown
Akula
Apollo
Centaur
Constellation
Constitution
Constitution Refit
Excelsior
Excelsior Refit
Miranda
Miranda Refit
Oberth
Proxima
Proxima Refit
Akira
Ambassador
Defiant
Galaxy
Intrepid
Nebula
Norway
Nova
Sovereign
Steamrunner
Klingon
K-30
Predator
Raptor
Stinger
B’rel
D-3
D-7
Death Boot
Death Rite
K’tinga
Ravenous
Stalker
K-18
K-32
K’vort
Negh’var
Raptor Refit
Vor’cha
Romulan
Battlehawk
Bird-of-Prey
Hunter
Skyhawk
Swarm
Swift Wing
BoP (Rom)
Gryphon
K’tinga
Praetor
Stormbird
Vengeance
Whitewing
Winged Def.
D’deridex
Harpy
Raptor
Talon
Borg
Cube
Diamond
Obelisk
Pyramid
Rectangle
Sphere
Cube
Diamond
Obelisk
Pyramid
Rectangle
Sphere 2
Cube 3
Diamond 3
Obelisk 3
Pyramid 3
Rectangle 3
Sphere 3
Tactical Cube
This FAQ will be updated as more info comes in.
http://gaming.trekcore.com/legacy/ - TrekCore's coverage of
Star Trek: Legacy
Bethesda Softworks
- The official publishers site
Mad Doc Software -
The official developers site
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Sept, 2006 |
GameInformers High Res Video |
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Sept 15, 2006 |
Star Trek Gamers |
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Sept 7, 2006 |
FiringSquad |
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Aug 31, 2006 |
Gamespot |
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Aug 14, 2006 |
Star Trek Gamers |
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Aug 8, 2006 |
GameInformer |
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Aug 4, 2006 |
Gamespot |
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Aug 4, 2006 |
Press Release |
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July 29, 2006 |
MyGamer |
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July 20, 2006 |
Gamespot |
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July 18, 2006 |
GameDaily |
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PCGS |
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July 13, 2006 |
Computer&VideoGames |
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July 4, 2006 |
GamersDaily |
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June 29, 2006 |
DigNews |
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June 26, 2006 |
Star Trek Gamers |
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June 16, 2006 |
Gamebiz Australia |
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June 13, 2006 |
Gamespot |
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June 10, 2006 |
Boomtown |
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June 8, 2006 |
FiringSquad |
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June 5, 2006 |
Intl House of Games |
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May 31, 2006 |
MyGamer |
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May 30, 2006 |
GameShout Podcast |
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May 30, 2006 |
UGO |
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May 25, 2006 |
PlanetXBOX360 |
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May 22, 2006 |
GamingHorizon |
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May 20, 2006 |
Tom's Hardware |
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TheGameFeed |
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GameShark |
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WarGamer |
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GameDaily |
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GamesRadar |
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ShackNews |
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GameVortex |
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PlayFeed |
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May 14, 2006 |
GamesFirst |
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May 12, 2006 |
GamePlayMonthly |
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May 12, 2006 |
HomeTheatre |
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May 12, 2006 |
FiringSquad |
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May 12, 2006 |
Computer & Vid Games |
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G4TV |
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May 11, 2006 |
GamingSteve |
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May 11, 2006 |
Team XBox |
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TheManRoom |
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Washington Post |
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May 11, 2006 |
Gamespot |
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Gameplay Monthly |
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WorthPlaying |
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May 11, 2006 |
The
Inquirer |
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GameZone Preview |
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May 10, 2006 |
XBoxCore |
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E3 Insider |
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May 10, 2006 |
PC
IGN |
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May 10, 2006 |
Gamespot |
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May 5, 2006 |
UFPCroatia |
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May 2, 2006 |
GamesFirst |
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April 26, 2006 |
GameReactor |
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April 26, 2006 |
GamesRadar |
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April 24, 2006 |
GameRadio.de |
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April 2006 Issue |
PC Gamer UK Magazine |
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March 26, 2006 |
HoustonVehicles |
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March 22, 2006 |
Skewed and Reviewed |
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March 10, 2006 |
ArmChairEmpire |
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March 7, 2006 |
Star
Trek Gamers |
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Feb 9, 2006 |
Gamespot.com |
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Feb 3, 2006 |
StarTrek.com |
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Feb 3, 2006 |
GameCloud |
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Feb 2006 |
GameInformer Magazine |
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Jan 24, 2006 |
Bethsoft.com |
